Kyle's Reef - ~150g combined system

[Kyl]

What's not awesome: Wednesday I purchase two Greenbanded Gobies online, get a call two hours later that they can't find the second one. Skunked again, fate doesn't want me to have those dam fish!

What is awesome: cuvette holder for Hanna is now done too, and both mounted.

 

>> STL files on Thingiverse <<

cuvette_holders by Kyl, on Flickr

 

MP10 back in the tank, kind of nice to have a bit of tank real-estate returned and the aesthetics are without a doubt much better. 

[fishfreak0114]

Damn, sorry to hear about the GBG's!  Where in Canada actually had one? Not that I can add more fish to my tank, but it'd be nice to know for the future.

[Kyl]

Baysidecorals in S.K. Colby (owner) said they're not too rare, but I've been looking for a long time and haven't seen them anywhere else. 

[Kyl]

Picked up a white-spot anemone shrimp today, so tiny, only about 1" long. Has a nice purple-blue banding / spots on the legs. Hoping it will take up residence on the plate coral, as it was in the LFS. Currently in invert QT for 76 days, or until it molts. Not taking anymore chances!

Periclimenes brevicarpalis by Kyl, on Flickr

 

 

[Kyl]

And why not some shots from a 10:00pm water change! Full actinic at night, so the camera really doesn't like it.

 

Top-down:

Water change TDS by Kyl, on Flickr

 

GSP wall is really starting to take off. As soon as my frag tank reboot gets off the ground, the GSP rock is coming out.

GSP_Wall by Kyl, on Flickr

 

The forest-fire digiata really suffered from the tank problems months ago, bleaching to the point that I thought it had completely died. It's been slowly coming back, but never regaining colour. The last number of weeks growth has re-started, and that new growth has regained the green base. Never say never with coral!

FFdigi by Kyl, on Flickr

 

The red setosa has finally started to grow onto my rock work, along with the frag of pink lemonade acropora from my original large frag.

setosa_lemonade by Kyl, on Flickr

 

And the red monticap, growing like crazy, amost to the glass already. My alk has not been keeping up since dosing re-started, and this guy is probably a large reason why. Almost time to start fragging it on purpose.

monticap by Kyl, on Flickr

 

And for some comparison, the original frag as outlined in white was this size as of December 2016.

Spoiler

monti_growth by Kyl, on Flickr

 

[Kyl]

P. brevicarpalis molted last night, so he's out of invert QT, acclimated over an hour with multiple complete water refreshes and I put him in to the tank from hand with zero water. Went right into the the paly island and has been there for the last hour or so.

P.brevicarpalis_tank by Kyl, on Flickr

 

Conch is also paying a visit next door..

conch by Kyl, on Flickr

 

Two more weeks of fallow as of this Monday, then the fish can return from QT.

 

[Kyl]

It's also been brought up that I forgot to link to the print files for the cuvette holders, sorry!

 

There're hosted on Thingiverse, and I'll edit the post to reflect that.

[teenyreef]

Those night shots are fantastic!

[Kyl]

Shrimp has really taken to the anemone, hopefully the clowns won't kill it.. I had hoped it would host on the plate coral, but what can you do..

 

anemone_shrimp by Kyl, on Flickr

 

Actually, the porcelain crab won't leave the anemone either!

 

anemone_duo by Kyl, on Flickr

Fish back in this coming Monday

[Kyl]

While designing the sump and stand for the tank upgrade, and reading a thread on another forum for nano stand ideas it occurred to me that I've never posted what the interior looks like. Low-light made this a bit grainy, but the layout is clear.

 

sektion_stand by Kyl, on Flickr

Apex, Vortech controller mounted left, ATO back wall, EB8 & DOS right wall with 2part storage below. The right side contains foods and additives, other supplies and the ATO reservoir container at the bottom which holds 2.5 gallons.

 

Overall I think these Ikea Sektion kitchen cabinets are great for basing a stand on, and when properly bracketed, joined and capped, are solid as a rock. The other perk is a variety of cabinet door options, like birch in my case which matches most of my other furniture and desk. I only capped them to raise the frame off the floor and fully support the front of the tank, both of which allow the doors to open freely.

[Kyl]

I've been trying to keep the inverts well fed so the tank didn't diminish it's bio load processing capabilities in the absence of the fish for 76 days, but I'm somewhat weary of a possible ammonia spike when re-introducing five fish. I did pick up a Seneye last year second hand and it has one slide left, probably worth setting up just to monitor for any ammonia for the first month returning..

 

I'm sure the assessor will appreciate being back in the tank, the clowns beat on him every week it seems and his poor fins have been nipped and some body damage too. The clowns really are turning quite mean since becoming hosted, a fact I'm appreciating more as time goes on. Hopefully the return tempers them some..

[Kyl]

Three days back in the tank:
 

Not an iso or copepod to be seen on the glass

Blenny posing on coral like a model in front of the camera

Clowns, re-hosted, porcelain crab and anemone shrimp so far spared

Assessor still reclusive, but in his cave up-sidown!

Pinkstreak strutting around the tank, probably eating all the pods

 

Can't find the large conch, might have gone to conch heaven..

 

 

[cju84]

20 minutes ago, Kyl said:

Three days back in the tank:
 

Not an iso or copepod to be seen on the glass

Blenny posing on coral like a model in front of the camera

Clowns, re-hosted, porcelain crab and anemone shrimp so far spared

Assessor still reclusive, but in his cave up-sidown!

Pinkstreak strutting around the tank, probably eating all the pods

 

Can't find the large conch, might have gone to conch heaven..

 

 

You're anemones are unbelievable!  Amazing color.  Great looking, healthy tank.

[teenyreef]

1 hour ago, Kyl said:

Three days back in the tank:
 

Not an iso or copepod to be seen on the glass

Blenny posing on coral like a model in front of the camera

Clowns, re-hosted, porcelain crab and anemone shrimp so far spared

Assessor still reclusive, but in his cave up-sidown!

Pinkstreak strutting around the tank, probably eating all the pods

 

Can't find the large conch, might have gone to conch heaven..

 

 

This all sounds fairly positive except for the conch. Assessors are infamous for swimming and hiding upside down. 

[Kyl]

Spoiler

FTS_September_2017 by Kyl, on Flickr

 

 

Fish are back in for a week so far and life is almost back to normal. The assessor has been hiding for most of the time back, but is slowly coming out to swim in the open. Unfortunately I think the pompom crab must be smacking him around as he's been getting pretty haggard, and I don't see any of the other fish picking on him when he's out and about. The little cave he's sitting in, upside down, is where the pompom frequently hides during the daytime, so for now I'll chose to blame her..

 

The female clown hasn't taken to fully being hosted again, but the male sure has. He's been sitting at the edges and underneath the the front of the anemone for the past couple days, kind of comical as the female darts around the back looking for him then he'll come out and do his little submissive wiggle routine for a bit then rush back under. I am glad to see that the porcelain crab hasn't been harmed yet, nor the anemone shrimp.

 

Spoiler

hiding by Kyl, on Flickr

 

 

Some frags were moved out to the 65 gallon with ich fallow having been completed, and I'm setting to re-grow the birdsnest from a tiny frag of the second now ~6" colony, that was also grown from a single stick of the initial frag - turned colony. I still can't believe that there's about 13 - 14 total inchs of growth from that birdsnest in just under 18 months, it would probably be the side of a volleyball if never fragged and lost. There's still far too much clutter in the tank, lots of snail shells and rock rubble to remove, but I haven't gotten around to trying to re-attempt the frag tank again and I don't want to litter the 65 either. I think the reality of things is I have corals that are just getting too large to co-exist well, coupled with the anemone taking up most of the rock when it feels like extending. 

 

This has all been leading up to a big reason why I've sort of been letting things stay somewhat stagnant, build plans are being finalized for a major tank upgrade this winter. While it will no longer be nano in dimensions, it will remain nano in livestock stature. The character many of these small fish have would just be lost in a sea of giants..

 

 

[Kyl]

Design plans have been sent to the tank builder..

 

Spoiler

 

tankbuild by Kyl, on Flickr

 

 

~60 gallons, will this disqualify me from nano-reef?

On a livestock note, I've probably figured out what's been happening to the assessor. There is a tiny crevice below the red montipora that he's been squeezing through to get into a little pocket behind it. I've observed it about four times this evening, so I think this dumb fish has been causing himself those injuries!

 

assessor_damage by Kyl, on Flickr

[Kyl]

The clowns have been losing the anemone battle to the porcelain crab, they look like two sad puppies hiding out below the anemone now haha!

nem_tenant by Kyl, on Flickr

And the monti cap is really going strong, starting to overgrow itself into the tiered platform look so common to the larger colonies.

growth by Kyl, on Flickr

[Kyl]

Put the request in with the LFS for more nano stock. If they come in early, I have a 20 long that will be fine for a few months (post QT).

 

1x White Banded Possum Wrasse (Wetmorella albofasciata)
1x Yasha Ray Goby (Stonogobiops yasha)

 

Candycane Pistol shrimp are quite common, I may just get a 10 gallon running for inverts again and pick one up.

 

Stocking goal when in the 60 gallon will be:

 

2x Ocellaris Clownfish
1x Pink-Streaked Wrasse
1x Tailspot Blenny
1x Gold Assessor Basslet

2x Greenbanded Gobies

1x White Banded Possum Wrasse

1x Yasha Ray Goby

 

Still thinking of what smaller things would be a good fit..

 

 

 

[Lula_Mae]

Beautiful tank!  I was going to comment re: the pom pom crab beating the assessor up, I had a pom pom last spring that I would absolutely believe capable of taking on a full-sized fish!  Little punk... New tank plans are always exciting!

[Kyl]

Thank you. I had two pompom's, and perhaps still do, but I only ever see one that sporadically has an egg clutch under it. The assessor is looking slightly better, maybe it's a combination of pompom plus being dumb.

[Kyl]

So I've done some more research with the coming tank upgrade and there's going to be two definite new additions as I've put in the LFS wait list:

Yasha White Ray Goby - Stonogobiops yasha
White Banded Possum Wrasse - Wetmorella albofasciata

And I'm still trying to source Greenbanded gobies (Tigrigobius multifasciatus) with no luck, even out of province. 

That would leave the list at: (in a 48" x 18" x 16" 60 gallon)
2x Ocellaris Clownfish (anemone hosted)
1x Pink-Streaked Wrasse
1x Tailspot Blenny
1x Gold Assessor Basslet
2x Greenbanded Gobies
1x Yasha White Ray Goby
1x White Banded Possum Wrasse

Really would be nice to get a bit of blue in the tank, or some more active fish. Possibly some of the smaller flasher wrasses as I plan to keep the fairy's in my other tank. Also looking to see if a Springer's damsel (Chrysiptera springeri) would be suitable long term. Seems they are pretty docile when young but get ornery as they age, and get as large as the clowns.. The other thought was to have a section of the tank with a barnacle cluster and home it with a few Barnacle blennies (Acanthemblemaria macrospilus), assuming they wouldn't squabble with the tailspot.

The tank as-is has stopped all the losses, alk consumption continues to increase and the fish are almost all back to normal. The assessor still hides more often than not, but his scratches have healed up and his colour is starting to get a bit more vibrant - though still dull. The comedic part is the porcelain crab has not abandoned the anemone, and even the anemone shrimp hangs out on it all day now - while the clowns sulk at the perimeter of it, or underneath the anemone's disc. It's like they've been defeated, but time will tell.

I'm going to have to frag the purple pocillopora and the red monti again soon as they're starting to encroach on the purple valida acro, and my gold leather has finally attached to a piece of rock rubble that I can mount somewhere.

[Kyl]

After some hiccups I had a nice long talk with the tank builder today and things are just about set. A few changes to my design that will work better, some other upgrades and a time frame of 4-6 weeks, so it should be arriving just before Christmas. This weekend I think it's time to tear down and clean up the coral skeleton graveyard in the 10, get the last of my marco rock set up and start to get it cooking with coraline.

 

There is also a Canadian Thanksgiving livestock sale starting Saturday at the LFS, so I'm going to be picking up a few fish for the upgrade:

• p. Cyaneus - Blue Flasher Wrasse
• p. Mccoskeri - McCoskers Flasher Wrasse
• Elacatinus oceanops x E. figaro - Hybrid Cleaner Goby

Along with the stock on order, the list for the 60 gallon upgrade should look like this:

 

2x Ocellaris Clownfish

1x Pink-Streaked Wrasse

1x Tailspot Blenny

1x Gold Assessor Basslet

2x Greenbanded Gobies

1x White Banded Possum Wrasse

1x Yasha Ray Goby

1x Blue Flasher Wrasse

1x McCoskers Flasher Wrasse

1x Hybrid Cleaner Goby

 

Still debating something like a yellow-head jawfish, or a few barnacle blennies. Going to be a lot of real estate with almost 4x the display volume, will have to see how things settle out.

[Kyl]

I have been having some phosphate creep in the tank and it's been causing some SPS recession. It had been holding at about .02ppm, but has crept up to .05 in the last couple weeks. I had been letting slip the carbon/GFO change, which is probably where that is coming from. A bit of lanthanum chloride and it's been knocked back down to .025 over the last week or so. Alk consumption continues to increase though, up to 10ml/day now, most of that can probably be attributed to the plating montis.

 

The assessor is visibly fully healed now and its yellow colouring is starting to get a bit more pronounced. The clowns are still somewhat evicted from the RBTA, both the porcelain crab and anemone shrimp are keeping them out of it during the daytime. Still look like sad puppies sulking underneath the bubbletips disc, especially the male. I did finally see the flame lip conch this past weekend, I hadn't seen it for weeks and assumed it had died under the rockwork. What accessible sand there is has been looking a lot better than it had prior to the conch additions.

 

Took a while but the nano-tank upgrade is officially under construction! I'm being given a 4-6 week time frame for production, hoping it turns out to be a very nice looking tank. 48 x 18 x 16 rimless, a shallow tank with black back glass and an external weir overflow, big sump, and a 36" steel stand. There's been some minor functional changes with the sump and stand, but the gist of it is in my Flickr album. Going to be an early Christmas present to myself, and will also have a stand alone frag tank (30 x 22 x 10) to grow out trimmings and quarantine all incoming coral and inverts. Now to work on the life support equipment, it's probably going to be similar to my 65 gallon tank..

[Kyl]

Apologies for letting things lapse, but there's been a lot of movement and craziness going on lately, mixed with the usual reef things. I've mentioned an upgrade a few times, and the tank has been built, is currently curing and I should see it, the stand, sump and frag tank in about 2 weeks. This is probably going to bring an end to my nano tank run, at least for salt water as I've found the volume runs on thin ice too often for my long-term liking. That and I'm going to get it if I keep bringing more tanks online haha!

 

I will say that starting nano was probably the best way I could have gotten into the hobby. It was financially a much easier option, required focused dedication and taught me hard lessons about how a tank behaves with too much or too little intervention. I want to thank all the people that have given me ideas, feedback and constructive criticism. It's been a huge boon to have such a focused subset of the salt water community to have relied upon.

 

While my build log updates will be ending here, I'm active on Reef2Reef under the same username and have build logs created. While my tank will no longer be nano, the fish will continue to be

[teenyreef]

Post a picture of two of the new tank here so we can keep up!